Canada loses to Australia in final group match

Shona Thorburn #6 of Canada looks to pass the ball as she drives to the net past Lauren Jackson #15 and Jenna O'Hea #4 of Australia during the Women's Basketball Preliminary Round match on Day 9 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Basketball Arena on August 5, 2012 in London, England.

Photograph by: Christian Petersen
, Getty

LONDON — Abby Bishop is a basketball player, not a sports writer, but she summed up the character of the Canadian team and the essence of her team's win on Sunday as neatly, succinctly and, er, colourfully as any great wordsmith.

"Canada are quite small," said the Australian forward, moments after her team held off a furious Canadian rally to earn a 72-63 win. "They're tough as shit but they're quite small. We just wanted to pound the ball inside."

And that, in a nutshell, was the final round-robin game at the Olympic basketball tournament for both teams. We professionals, however, have 700 words to fill so let's expand on the themes provided by Bishop and their application to the larger basketball world.

For the Canadians, the positives from London have been many. On the strength of their upset, round-robin victory over Brazil, the sixth-ranked team in the world, they finished fourth in their pool and advanced to Tuesday's quarter-final round. A win over Australia, moreover, had the potential to launch them as high as second in their group.

So there's that.

But, as Bishop so eloquently suggested, Canada might have demonstrated their inherent toughness against the Aussies but they also demonstrated their limitations. Australia is the second-ranked women's team in the world. Canada fought like rabid badgers to all but erase a 15-point first-half deficit but, in the end, had no answers for the Aussies size, toughness and experience.

And the Australians still represent a relative walk in the park compared with their next opponent. That would be the Americans, the top-ranked team in the world, who blitzed the Chinese 114-66 on Sunday for their 38th international win in a row. The Yanks, just so you know, haven't lost at the Olympics since 1988 in Seoul.

Australia, in short, was a mountain for Canada to climb. The Americans are the north face of K2, but the Maple Leaf, as is their wont, will make the fight.

"It probably is a foregone conclusion but we're going to go play," said head coach Allison McNeill, who's from Salmon Arm.

"We've had a tough draw but we love it," said 19-year-old Natalie Achonwa, the rising star of the Canadian program who had a big game against the Aussies. "We get to play against some of the best teams and best individual players in the world. We're blessed with this opportunity but we never back down to any team we play."

That much was apparent on Sunday. Four minutes in, the Canadians found themselves down 12-0 and thinking it couldn't get any worse. A couple of minutes later it was 18-3. Australia's 6-foot-8 post, Liz Cambage, had 15 points midway through the second quarter.

As they say in these parts, bloody hell.

But the Canadians gained a bit of traction over the final five minutes of the first half, then came out with a 20-12 run in the third quarter to make a game of it. Twice they got within three. With four minutes to play, Mission's Bev Smith hit a three-pointer to bring the Canadians within two.

On the next possession, however, Belinda Snell hit her own three for the Aussies and the comeback died. Canada, in fact, opted to start fouling with just over a minute left, leading to eight straight free throws by Australian star Lauren Jackson and an inflated final score.

"Honestly, it wasn't stage fright or anything like that," Smith, who led Canada with 17 points, said of her team's start. "We just didn't have enough pressure on the ball and they just lobbed it over top of us. We're not nervous to play on this stage. We know we belong here. We just didn't execute the game plan at the start."

Achonwa, meanwhile, continued to establish her presence on the Canadian team. Playing against Jackson and Cambage, she pulled down four rebounds and contributed seven points in sparking the third-quarter comeback.

"I think you're seeing her evolution," said McNeill. "She's very calm. She's a world-class rebounder and she doesn't get overwhelmed by the big moment."

McNeill paused.

"But we talked about this as team. Why don't we belong? Because we haven't been here before? You don't belong at the Olympics if you're not good. We know we're good. We've never felt like we didn't belong here. Ever."

Shona Thorburn #6 of Canada looks to pass the ball as she drives to the net past Lauren Jackson #15 and Jenna O'Hea #4 of Australia during the Women's Basketball Preliminary Round match on Day 9 of the London 2012 Olympic Games at the Basketball Arena on August 5, 2012 in London, England.